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OPT: Health situation in Gaza, 03 Mar 2008

- According to the MoH, 116 Palestinian were killed (incl. 39 children) and 350 people were injured (incl. 75 children) since 27 February.

- Five ambulances have been hit during the IDF actions in Gaza Strip as reported by the MoH.

- The MoH has issued referral documents for eleven urgent cases to be treated in Israeli hospitals. Seven of these patients are waiting for the Israeli permits to cross Erez Crossing. The remaining four patients are waiting for hospital appointments.

- A total of 39 patients have been referred to Egyptian hospitals on 2 March through the Rafah border crossing. Another 34 cases will be referred by the end of 3 March.

Health Facilities Update

The MoH hospitals continue to work within the declared state of emergency. The provision of some health services has been reduced due to the shortage of drugs, medical supplies, lab reagents; some medical equipment is no longer functioning.

The MoH has reported that urgently needed drugs (85 items), medical supplies (52 items) and lab reagents (24 items) are out of stock at MoH facilities.

Fuel/electricity supply

Gaza Strip, except Rafah district, is facing a daily electricity outage for an average of eight hours. The general shortage of fuel continues to be of concern in hospitals as they rely on emergency generators during electricity outage hours.

Fuel availability in MoH hospitals

Hospitals
Storage capacity
Available amount
Yosif Najar
16,800 litres
13,500 litres
Tal Sultan
7,000 litres
5,000 litres
Nasser
22,000 litres
6,000 litres
Gaza European
120,000 litres
17,000 litres
Aqsa Martyrs
16,700 litres
5,200 litres
Shifa
57,000 litres
11,400 litres
Gaza Paediatrics'
10,000 litres
2,500 litres
Dorah
6,400 litres
1,600 litres
Psychiatric
3,500 litres
900 litres
Kamal Edwan
9,500 litres
5,850 litres
Beit Hanun
8,100 litres
1,900 litres

The MoH vehicles are functioning as all of them have been refueled.

Health personnel

Health personnel have reported to their work places today after some of them have been redeployed to other health facilities according to the needs. Health personnel working in Beit Hanun and Kamal Edwan hospitals in Northern Gaza have reported to work normally after the curfew has been lifted.

Access to Health Care outside Gaza

Israeli Authorities allowed urgent and non-urgent cases to cross the Erez border into Israel during February and the first two days of March.

Patients crossed Erez from 27 February to 2 March

Day No. of patients crossed Erez crossing
Wednesday, 27 Feb 51 urgent and non urgent
Thursday, 28 Feb 24 urgent and non urgent
Friday, 29 Feb 5 urgent
Saturday, 1 Mar closed
Sunday, 2 Mar 36 urgent and non urgent


Coordination and response

- Two coordination meetings were held in Gaza and Jerusalem on 3 March assessing needs and capacity of response.

- WHO has distributed to partner agencies in the health sector a matrix listing MoH urgent needs of drug, medical supplies, lab reagents, medical equipment and fuel.